German President and First Lady arrive in India on a five-state visit
New Delhi, Mar 22 (IBNS): German President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier along with First Lady Elke Büdenbender arrived in India on Thursday on a five-day state visit, according to media reports.
On his arrival at AFS Palam in New Delhi, the German President was received by Minister of State for Drinking Water & Sanitation, SS Ahluwalia.
This will be Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier's first visit to India as the President of Germany.
During this visit, the German President will be accompanied by a CEO delegation, Indologists and a media delegation.
Apart from Delhi, President Steinmeier will also visit Varanasi and Chennai.
According to a release from the External Affairs Ministry, he has visited India several times in his former capacity as the Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany - in 2015 accompanying Chancellor Merkel to attend the 3rd Intergovernmental Consultations, in September 2014 and in November 2008.
The last German President to visit India was Joachim Gauck in February 2014. This visit is significant as it will be the President's first visit after the new German Government was sworn in on March 14, 2018, the MEA release said.
The release also said that after having established Strategic Partnership since 2000, successive governments of both countries have endeavored to broaden and deepen the relationship. This has found expression in having biennial Summit level Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC), which Germany has with select countries only.
India-Germany bilateral economic cooperation has been robust, said the MEA release. Germany is India’s largest trading partner in Europe and the sixth largest trading partner in the world. India was ranked 24th in Germany’s global trade.
India’s current priorities in most areas match with German expertise, such as renewable energy, skills development, Smart City, water & waste management, cleaning of rivers, railways, etc.
In 2016-17 the bilateral trade turnover was US$ 18.76 billion. In 2016-17, India exported goods worth US$ 7.18 billion to Germany and imported goods worth US$ 11.58 billion. Germany is the 7th largest foreign direct investor in India. Cumulative German FDI in India from April 2000 to December 2017 is USD 10.71 billion or 2.91% of total FDI.
There are more than 15,000 Indian students in Germany and around 800 German students are doing their internship or studying in India (2017), the MEA release said.
it also pointed out that 108,000 Indian national are in Germany (German Ministry of Interior, 2017) and the number of PIOs in Germany is about 73,000, mainly consisting of technocrats, small businessmen/traders and nurses.
On Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a telephone call to Angela Merkel to congratulate her on assuming office as the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany for the fourth successive term, officials said.
PM Modi also said that that he was looking forward to his forthcoming meeting with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, media reported.
Image: PIB
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